Art Bunker Mixes Gulf Oil, Nuclear Protest, Welcomes Paris Kids

Visitors enter via heavy steel doors to see the collection
founded by French Internet entrepreneur Steve Rosenblum, 36. A
black tunnel leads to a white space containing a 1950s fallout
shelter.

“It’s a cross between an art foundation and an
apartment,” says Rosenblum, the founder of the electrical e-
commerce website Pixmania. “This is a place to show
contemporary artists, who need exposure, and it’s also a place
to hang out with friends. It’s a mix,” says Rosenblum, dressed
in a dark blue suit and open white shirt, surveying the
labyrinth of minimalist black and white walls.

His international overview of emerging and emergent talent
invites comparisons with established taste-making collectors
such as Charles Saatchi in London and the Rubells in Miami.
Like them, Rosenblum buys from dealers before artists become
fashionable brands at auction. The presence of buyers such as
Francois Pinault and Bernard Arnault is boosting Paris’s
rivalry with London as the capital of Europe’s art market.

Rosenblum and his wife Chiara have been collecting for five
years and have acquired more than 120 pieces. His Fotovista
Group, owner of Pixmania, was acquired by DSG International Plc,
formerly known as Dixons Group, in April 2006.

The 15,000-square-foot (1,394 square meter) gallery in the
southeast of Paris near the Bibliotheque Nationale de France is
called Rosenblum Collection & Friends. It is a conversion of a
former photographic laboratory by local architect Joseph Dirand.

Fallout Shelter

The centerpiece of the gallery is a newly commissioned
piece by the American artist Matthew Day Jackson. “Second
Home” consists of an 18-ton fallout shelter infinitely
reflected through the floor of its glass vitrine. Visitors can
walk into the steel refuge, which is equipped with items such as
a patchwork spacesuit and sculptures of internal organs made out
of crude oil from the recent Gulf of Mexico spill.

“Matthew’s work is all about science,” Rosenblum says of
the permanent installation he funded. “Science helped us manage
the atom, and then we made the Bomb.”

The Rosenblums, who curate their own shows, began by
collecting African masks and tribal artifacts. Then came the
2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.

“There is a world after 9/11,” Rosenblum says, explaining
how he and Chiara became increasingly drawn to the way living
artists confront contemporary issues. Jackson is one of 20
artists represented in the inaugural show, “Born in Dystopia,”
exploring current political themes.

Rhino Sculpture

Others include Kelley Walker, Tala Madani, Christoph
Buechel, Steven Shearer -- who will be representing Canada in
next year’s Venice Biennale -- and the Frenchman Loris Greaud,
who has made a black wall sculpture of a life-size family of
endangered white rhinos. Russian-born Andrei Molodkin’s “9/11”
is a stopped digital clock with the numbers half-filled with
oil.

Last month at Sotheby’s in London, Saatchi sold a painting
by the Iraqi artist Ahmed Alsoudani for 289,250 pounds
($455,000), more than four times the low estimate. It was the
first time the artist, whose works also the Rosenblums also
collect, had appeared at auction.

“It’s good for the market. You can’t just collect, collect
and collect,” says Rosenblum. His current show features a wall
of canvases by Berlin-based Alsoudani, who creates painterly
evocations of violence in the Middle East. “Though I haven’t
sold anything yet, I can’t say I won’t sell anything in the
future.”

The Rosenblums want to make the experience of looking at
art as informal and enjoyable as possible. A ground-floor
kitchen and easy chairs will enable them to entertain guests who
can browse an open-access library of books and magazines that
have influenced the exhibiting artists. Upstairs, children can
create mayhem in a playroom kitted out with painting materials.

“There’s no fixed plan. We want it to be easy-going. We
want the family to come,” the gallery owner says.

Rosenblum Collection & Friends is at 183, rue du
Chevaleret, 75013, Paris. Information:
http://www.rosenblumcollection.eu. Anyone wanting to visit
should join the network of Facebook-style “friends” at the
website. The gallery will be open twice a week by appointment.

(Scott Reyburn writes for Muse, the arts and culture
section of Bloomberg News. Opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer on the story:
Scott Reyburn in Paris at sreyburn@hotmail.com.